- Soca 2018! -

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Off the road campaign

In the wake of all the violence plaguing our city. I feel compelled to
ask for help from our community and the City of Toronto to keep the
violence out of our annual Caribbean parade.

The biggest, and
most ignored issue leading to violence, are non-masqueraders on the road
with paying participants. They are always the perpetrators of
disrespectful acts toward people in costume and spectators alike.

Every year disrespectful thugs harass female masqueraders and males
alike. Costumes that cost thousands of dollars are destroyed by
non-masqueraders that have no respect for the culture they come from and
for the people who produce these beautiful works of art.

The
costumes are not seen or appreciated and this is because of people who
refuse to participate but feel they have equal right to the limited
space the Lakeshore provides.

We need to stand
together, to show that we respect and love our culture and each other
enough, to make sure the people who are involved in any criminal
activity or have any other intention other than enjoying the costumes
and food, remain off the streets and out of our parade.

Every
year, acts of violence as serious as shootings, fights, inappropriate
touching and behaviour, slanderous comments and arguments, occur on the
road, and it is always involves non-masqueraders. Toronto Police are not
taught or not told to differentiate between masqueraders and
non-masqueraders when exiting and entering the Lakeshore (parade route).

They, like many others are unaware that people who participate in the
parade, spend a lot of money to do so. Masqueraders spend from $200/$300
to $5000/$6000 to participate. Bandleaders spend upward of $40,000 for
small bands into the hundreds of thousands to produce larger ones.

Production begins immediately after summer and the effort and passion
put into these costumes go unappreciated every year. Either they are not
seen by spectators and/or damaged by non-masqueraders.

Spectators nowadays are no longer greeted by smiling revellers or happy
food vendors, but instead by thugs roaming the streets looking for
trouble. There is no longer room for families to enjoy the spectacles of
the parade, the music or the food. They are so afraid to come. They
shun the parade, calling it unsafe and who can blame them!

Our
parade is first and foremost a showcase of our culture to North America
and to other nationalities. These negative aspects should not be allowed
in something that is essentially a stage for people from around the
world to view an art form long ignored.

The glamour of
masquerading is lost when a sea of people flood the streets and turn the
stage (parade route), into a violent street party. I have friends in
other countries that refer to our parade as “Ghetto-bana” and so many of
them who participate in different parades around the world are SHOCKED
to hear that non-masqueraders are allowed to degrade the parade as they
do every year.

Never have I gone out on the road on that day
and am not harassed by men without costumes, in the most degrading and
disrespectful manners. Men in costume however, are so much more
respectful, because like you, they have spent hundreds to be there and
want to enjoy their day without incident.

Girls not in costume,
bend your feathers, and tug at your costume when it gets in their way…
but girls in costume apologize to each other and smile as they know,
they are wearing one as well.

Here is my proposal:

To the City of Toronto I ask:

Let there be more of a Police Presence on the road and HAVE POLICE
BLOCK EVERY ACCESS POINT ON THE PARADE ROUTE TO KEEP NON-MASQUERADERS
OUT COMPLETELY AND ALLOW PARTICIPANTS AND OFFICIALS FREE ACCESS TO FOOD
AND FACILITIES.

Seems drastic?? Think of the long-term
positive effects. Less and less will people misbehave, and the parade
will become safer over time. A lot more respect is paid to Toronto
Police than to band security, and a lot more respect will be built over
time toward our parade.

To my sweet Caribbean people I ask:

Educate each other on the importance of a positive perception on our
culture. Let us show the world that we are civilized, organized and put
on the best show on earth without fighting each other and killing each
other in the process.

PARTICIPATE, PARTICIPATE, PARTICIPATE!
Amplify your Carnival experience by joining one of the bands in the
parade, rather than bombard them and destroy all their hard work.

Help the art form of mas making, become world recognized. Help showcase
our culture in a positive way by being part of the solution, and not
part of the problem. Playing mas is one of the best feelings in the
world, try it once, and you will do it for the rest of your life!

Promote our culture by participating, rather than bring our culture down by destroying it and hiding it.

And it doesn’t have to be just about mas. Create something to showcase
within the parade, or on the outside. Join a steel band, create art to
sell to spectators… anything positive that showcases something
Caribbean. Just Get Involved!!

Let us return the parade to a
positive showcase of costumes and culture and the glamor of
masquerading, by letting it be just that, a parade, not a free and out
of control street party.

We continue to hinder the growth of
something that can lead to more business… money and most importabtly
respect for our community by letting this issue slide year after year.

Pass this msg along to everyone you know; City officials, newspapers,
friends and family. Spread the word that we will no longer stand by as
our parade degrades more and more every year. Discuss, strategize, have a
voice and an opinion and give suggestions on the matter.

This page is the place for that!

Carnival is the “The Greatest Show on Earth” Let’s give the world a
real show, something to be proud of and have so much fun doing it!

9 comments:

I'm very glad to see that someone else is sharing our same sentiments about this. Last year there was Respect the Mas on facebook.

A very important thing I would add is masqueraders don't encourage the stormers by wining with them. These guys only continue to jump into your band bc they're getting jam! We need to take back our parade and give them hell for ruining it for us!

I make it a point of telling all stormers to leave the band: those that come up & start wining on me, or rudely push by me. I'd really like to see more masqueraders this year set them straight: You don't belong in our parade!

•high five• for this BRILLIANT post. I was just saying the other day that I missed the days back home in Trinidad where I played mas, had a good time on the parade route, & didn't have to worry about men grabbing/touching without invitation. I know that some people don't mind it, but for me personally... I hate that Lakeshore gets so clogged with people that aren't in the parade, that once you pass the judges it's like the parade & the fun is over. I wish Toronto police would keep the parade stormer-free. As much as I like to mingle, I can mingle after the parade on the sidelines... After paying $350 for a costume & $475 for a plane ticket...I don't think that's too much to ask for. ;)

If Caribana used some of my $200 to provide me with a proper place to pee and fed me and kept me hydrated properly, I wouldn't have to squeeze my way in and out of the parade, letting others in in the process.

As a out-of-province masquerader and a Trini that truly appreciates the art form that is mas-making I'd like to thank Sophia for writing this article.

I'd like to highlight something that really stood out to me "To my sweet Caribbean people I ask:

Educate each other on the importance of a positive perception on our culture. Let us show the world that we are civilized, organized and put on the best show on earth without fighting each other and killing each other in the process."

Every year is the same story the bands have these so called security once judging is over most off these so called security start winning on the women just d same this is why dem thugs come in and joining,a free t-shirt say marshall on it and thats all they need so they can let friends in also.The band leaders need to demand a stronger POLICE presence if this parade want's to continue for a long time.POLICE,POLICE,POLICE and more POLICE.Take a look @ New York.

Look at New York? I went last year and seen plenty of people jumping up even with a heavy police presence. The police was more focusing on watching the naked lady touch herself. Police doesn't make a diffrence.

Great. It's not bad enough we've been locked in like a bunch of animals in a cage, but now you want to fill it with Police? Ridiculous!You can point the fingers at everyone. The men with costumes (some) are worse than the jumpers. The cops stand around with their dry face, and frankly I'm not comfortable with some guy with a gun being distracted by bouncy boobs, etc.

Caribana was much more fun and had less stormers 14-15 years ago before the tall fencing went in.

Now we walk around surrounded by gross orange tape like that's supposed to keep the stormers out.

Caribana used to be fun. It used to be about you going home filthy and sweaty, with sparkles being taken off for a week. Now it's nothing but politics, high prices, and security.

...and now, we are insulting the only paying customers by searching their bags.

Buublenut, Megan & Karabana at Caribana 2007!

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